The present disclosure relates to rekeyable lock cylinders.
When rekeying a cylinder using a traditional cylinder design, the cylinder plug is removed from the cylinder body and the appropriate pins are replaced so that a new key can be used to unlock the cylinder. This typically requires removal of the cylinder mechanism from the lockset and disassembly of the cylinder to some degree to remove the plug and replace the pins. This requires a working knowledge of the lockset and cylinder mechanism. Additionally, the process usually employs special tools and requires access to pinning kits to interchange pins and replace components that may become lost or damaged in the rekeying process.
Some rekeyable cylinder designs utilize the familiar experience of rotating the key in the lock cylinder such that no special knowledge, training, or tools to rekey the lock cylinder are required. In some instances, however, the cylinder is rotated before the new key is fully inserted. This may result in a mismatch between the new key and the plug and is referred to as a “blown cylinder.”
Additional features and advantages of the rekeyable lock will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon consideration of the following detailed description of the illustrated embodiment exemplifying the best mode of carrying out the rekeyable lock as presently perceived.